A Japanese artisan spent over 500 hours making a hyper-realistic wool felt model of a Miniature Pinscher.

Terumi Ota’s latest creation, a wool felt Miniature Pinscher, received over 32,000 likes on X (Twitter), and for good reason. At first glance, it looks like a real dog, which isn’t really the case with wool-felt sculptures, especially ones of short-hair breeds like the Pinscher. Apparently, due to the complexity of the project< Ota had to work on it intermittently over the last seven years, while she completed other commissioned works. She estimates that she put in over 500 hours of work, which sounds insane but is justified by the painstaking process of getting the dog’s short hair just right.

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If you’re looking for someone to make a realistic, three-dimensional portrait of your pet cat using felt wool, you’ll have a tough time finding someone better than Wakuneco. Just have a look at what she can do with a needle and wool thread.

Looking at some of the feline portraits created by the talented Japanese artist, it’s hard to believe they are made of felted wool and not taxidermy masterpieces. To achieve this level o realism, Wakuneco – which translates as “frame cat” – spends hours on end poking at wool with a needle to create solid layers that mimic cat fur, applying realistic glass eyes and finally adding the whiskers. After everything is just as she wants it, the 3D portrait is framed and sent to the owner who commissioned it.

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Miru, a Tokushima-based wool felt artist, has been getting a lot of attention on Japanese social media for his incredibly realistic wool-felt animals. Looking at some of his works, it’s not hard to see why everyone is so impressed.

Miru discovered wool felt art in 2010, when he saw a master of the craft work his magic during a TV show. He was captivated by this art form soon started experimenting with the material. However, at one point he realized that he needed a bit of guidance to unleash his full artistic potential, so he bought a book on wool felt art that he claims opened his eyes to the possibilities of the material. Over the last 8 years he has honed his skills to the point where it is sometimes nearly impossible to tell some of his wool felt animals apart from live ones.

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